Cecily's POV

I sighed as I adjust my backpack straps, just to see an angry Austin yelling at my best friends, Alex and Elizabeth. I chewed on my lower lip as I rolled my sleeves down my arms covering up the cuts, the old scars and shove my hands into my pockets. Everyone froze and looked at me as I nervously stood behind Austin. He sighs and shakes his head, Alex pulls me into a tight hug. Elizabeth sniffles "Are you okay Ceci?"

I smiled tiredly at them "I'm fine."

Austin sighs loudly and turns around and hugs me tightly "God. Don't scare me like that ever again. I'm so fucking sorry about last night."

I sighed into his shoulder "I'm fine. I just don't want anyone to tell my family. Okay?"

Austin sighs and rest his forehead against mine "Sorry. I love you, princess."

I flinched a bit but tiredly forced a small smile up at him "S'okay. Love you too, Austy."

He kisses my forehead and walks with me to my locker. I turned around to see Liam. "Uh hey Liam? Why are you at my locker?"

He chuckles and tries to hug me, but I stepped back and shook my head "Answer first."

He sighs "I just wanted to check on you since it's your first day to 10th grade. Sorry Cecily. I didn't know that it was such a crime to do that."

I sighed as he walks away. I looked at my friends and Rafe suddenly runs towards "Cecily. Are you, uh hey guys. Anyways, Ceci, are you going to the-"

I shook my head as I chewed on my lower lip "Your girlfriend hates me. And well so does the rest of your group."

He sighed "They don't hate you, they just miss you and well are hurt that you found new friends, I'm assuming."

I shrugged but smiled sadly at my cousin "Rafe. They're waiting for you. I've to go to class, I'm sorry."

I turned away from him with Alex, Austin and Beth. My life is a mess, but as long as I've these three idiots and my family, I can keep moving along. Not even those horrific memories can stop me from moving on. Austin wraps an arm around my shoulder and talks with his sister and my bestest friend since I was born, literally, we share the same birth date and time. I looked ahead ignoring the glares I was getting from the girls, why? I'm not sure, but I was ignoring them. I suddenly tripped forward but a pair of strong arms caught me. I opened one of my eyes to see beautiful, smart, unemotional yet warm eyes. I shook my head as I straightened myself up and muttered "Thank you, erum"

The boy smirks "No problem. Are you single?"

My eyes widen and I glared at the boy "No. In fact, this is my boyfriend. Austin. He's a junior..Thank you very much."

He smirks "I'm Jake. Jake Williamson. I'm a sophomore."

I shrugged "Congrats. Now if you don't mind moving out of our way."

He smiles, holy cow, his smile. Lord. Have mercy on me. I rolled my eyes as he gently yet politely moves out of the way "Of course, my queen."

I rolled my eyes and continued walking towards my class. Alex looks at me worriedly "You okay, shorty?"

I smiled "When am I never okay? Obviously, I'm okay. I don't know if Austin or Beth are okay though."

He shakes his head "Don't worry I will worry about them later. You are our priority right now."

I groaned, overprotectiveness. I'm getting irritated. "Okay. I get it. I was hurt! I get it. But please don't treat me like glass. I'm Ceciliane Elizabeth Herondale. I'm not a weak, pathetic doll. Okay?"

My friends just shook their heads. I rolled my eyes but smiled nonetheless.

I suddenly received a text. I looked at my phone to see my dad apologizing to me for being so harsh on me last night. But I just sighed and replied with 'It's okay daddy. You take care of mommy, don't worry about me. See you soon.'

I turn off my phone and sit in my seat in my last class for the day. Latin. Oh, I'm dreading this class already. The teacher walks in "Hello darlings! I'm your teacher, Mister Walker. I've decided to give you all assigned seating and whoever sits next to you will be your partner for the major one year long project, but since I'm a bit kind, I will let you pick whomever you want to work the multiple small projects with."

I rolled my eyes and drone out his instructions and started thinking about last night's incidents until the teacher yelled out " and ."

I turned around to see Jake. Oh God. I officially hate Latin 3.I took Latin 1 and 2 online and well they placed me in Latin 3 as a sophomore, which is apparently a Junior and Senior class. Jake plops down in the seat next to me "Hey partner."

I rolled my eyes "Hello."

I started replaying the incident.

Austin kicked the guy hard in his no man's land, Alex joined in and they both started beating the creep up. Beth pulls out an extra shirt and pulls it over me. They beat the man up, who lies there unconsciously and came running to me with angry yet worried eyes. I just sat there in pain, numb and sadness washed over me. Austin pulls his hoodie over me as it started to rain. He carried me bridal style towards his car with our friends running behind us. He slowly yet gently places me in the back seat and drives off to his house. After the drive he took me into his room and looks at my friends who just sat around me looking off at various directions.

I silently stated "Do not tell anyone. Or I swear to God. I swear to God that I will not ever talk to anyone of you ever again."

Austin glares out his window and then shifts his glare on my arms which had small scratches that were freshly bleeding and my wrist was bruising up a bit. He then looks at me and walks out of his room.

I put on a fake smile and heard Beth gasp, I looked at her and she whispered "Your cheek is bruising as well."

I chuckled dryly yet angrily "Foundation please."

She sighs and nods as she pulls out her bottle of foundation and applies it onto my right cheek. "Walk with me to my house…Please?"

I whispered the last word in fear and nervousness. My siblings must be worried about me, I cannot stress them out even more, it's 10 pm. My two friends nod and walk with me out of the McCarters household and towards my house, which was like 5 minutes away.

I walked towards my house and onto the porch and nervously rang the doorbell. I see my dad. I started crying, happy tears and yell "Daddy! You're back!"

And tackled him into a hug, he hugs me back tightly laughing out loud. I then yelled "That means mommy is home too!"

I pulled away and see my mom. I tackled her into a hug, but she hisses in pain. She yells out "Ow!"

And everyone runs to her, while I took three steps back from her, there was some blood on my hands, but my mommy wasn't bleeding. But my dad glares at me "You idiot! You could've hurt my wife! You could've killed her you stupid blonde kid!"

Ryland yells at me "You dumbass!"

Logan, Liam and Jessie just glare at me and stand around Mommy.

Mommy yells at my father and Ryland.

My mom yells at my father "Ryland! Watch your language! Jace! You asshole! That's not true! It was an accident apologize to her now both of you! Come here little muffin, you know that daddy and I love you right? and that Daddy is just worried. Right?"

I just hurtfully yet numb-fully looked at the ground and whispered and forced a smile "I'm sorry Father and Mommy. They don't have to apologize, they have nothing to apologize for. I love you too, mommy. And I know that he's worried. I don't want to hurt you again mommy, so I will just go to bed. Bye Alex, bye Beth."

My best friends who witnessed the whole incident looked like they were going to cry but they waved at me and walked towards Beth's house. Austin will know tomorrow.

I just down the stairs towards my room, which was in the basement. I slammed the door shut and slide down my door as I broke into tears. I cried my heart out until I curled up into a ball and cried till I fell asleep.

Suddenly someone was tapping on my shoulder. I was pulled out of my dream world as Jake gives me a concerned look "What?"

He shakes his head and smiles a bit "I will talk to you about the project later, since you weren't paying attention and seemed busy thinking. Can I borrow your phone?"

He said busy thinking, not day dreaming. He wasn't teasing me. I think I can deal with him. "Why?"

He chuckles "Well, type my number down on your phone then?"

I shrugged "Okay."

I typed up his number on my phone and then the bell rang. I'm free! He got up with a small smile "You're just something else, Herondale."
I tilted my head to the side and shook my head "Uh you didn't get my number. Here type away Williamson."

He chuckles and types my number down on his phone and yells over his shoulder "Catch you later Ceci."

I rolled my eyes with a smile as I gathered my books together and walk alongside with Alex and Beth who were in a deep conversation and we wait outside for Austin who was talking to some Junior girl, they both were blushing. I giggled at the sight while Alex glares at the sight. I raised an eyebrow "You okay, Ale?"

He nods "Watch out for that girl, Natasha. She's been crushing on Austin since 4th grade, he's been oblivious to it."

I ignored him, but if only I knew what would happen for ignoring his words.